Retails stores looking to find out what their customers think and want may be overlooking an opportunity that couldn’t be closer at hand: the humble credit card reader central to every in-store transaction.
One United Kingdom retailer recently tried this out, using the ubiquitous readers to ask a simple yes/no question: “Did you enjoy your shopping experience today?”
The retailer now runs one question for each seven-day period across their stores, and records the responses centrally. According to this Windows Embedded blog post, the company is currently recording a whopping 300,000 responses per week. An example of the type of questions it asks customers is “Would you be willing to pay for plastic carrier bags?” (That’s a common practice throughout Europe but a hot topic in the U.K.)
Using credit card readers to quiz customers is just one example of how an intelligent system can provide insight into shoppers’ habits and opinions, and make for a more engaging shopping experience in the process. Read more about interesting intelligent systems solutions on Windows Embedded’s retail industry page.
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Steve Clarke
Microsoft News Center Staff